City centre news for July 25th:
- Pubs and clubs battle it out to be named Birmingham’s top boozers – DOZENS of pubs, clubs and watering holes in Birmingham are battling it out be named the city’s top boozers.Licensing chiefs at Birmingham City Council have short-listed 57 venues to be considered for a Best Bar None award after receiving more than 100 entries to the competition.
- Jewellery Quarter coffin factory gets £1 million lifeline – A CRUMBLING coffin factory built in 1894 has received funding of £1 million to become a landmark destination in the heart of Birmingham. The three-storey Grade II listed Newman Brothers Coffin Works, in the Jewellery Quarter, was once the best in the world and made fittings for the coffins of Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain and Diana, Princess of Wales.
- Camden says no to High Speed Two – Camden Council – A report detailing a recommended response to controversial High Speed Two (HS2) proposals was discussed by the Council’s Cabinet yesterday (Wednesday 20 July). Members from all political parties agreed with the recommendation to oppose the scheme.
- Jewellery Quarter shop assistant sprayed with CS gas by robbers – A TERRIFIED sales assistant in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter had CS gas sprayed in her face when two would-be robbers tried to snatch jewellery from a display cabinet. One of the raiders was later caught after he was sprayed with a special dye by staff at the store on Warstone Lane.
- Birmingham scraps plans for Wholesale Markets move – Birmingham City Council (BCC) has scrapped plans to relocate its wholesale market to a site in Aston due to lack of funds.
- Steel façade work starts in next stage of New Street project – THE £600m redevelopment of New Street Station in Birmingham will take another step forward this week as engineers start preparatory work to create a stainless steel façade.
- Why the reopening of Dale End’s legendary music venue means so much to Brummies - As Dale End’s historic and famous venue’s doors were slammed shut for the last time in 2009, the whole of the Second City wept. Chances are, if you had been to a gig in the city, you’d seen it at the Academy. Its distinctive smell of sweat, the sticky carpet and the standing balcony would stay with Birmingham’s exuberant youth of a bygone era forever.
- Delays at Birmingham’s New Street station after evacuation – Birmingham Mail A fire alarm caused the complete evacuation for 20 minutes which then led to delays when the station re-opened. And services to and from Wolverhampton were stopped at midday when a lorry crashed into a railway bridge just outside Wolverhampton.
